The Maryville times. (Maryville, Tenn.) 1884-1944, 1887-10-05
THE PRIME MINISTER.
Good Men Can Not be Kept
Down.

aVO0 men Can MOI Do k0pC
Christian Character Compels the World
to Honor 1t, and Religions Life IL Not
to be Despised-Sermon BY Rev. T. De
Witt Talmsge, ID. ID.
BRooKLYN, Sept. 1S.-After explaining |
appropriate passages Of Scripture, DR..
Talmage took his text from Genesis xiii,
Il: "And Pharoah said unto Joseph: See, |
! have set thee over all the land of Egypt"
The subject Of the sermon was: 1.-THE
Prime Minister" DR.. Talmage said:
You can not keeps good man down.
God has decreed for him . certain eleva-
ton to which he must attain. He will
bring him through though it cost Him a
thousand worlds. There are men con-
stantly in trouble lest they shall not be
appreciated. Every man comes in the
end to be valued at just what he is worth.
How often you see men turn out all their
forces to crush one man or set OF men!
How do they succeed No better than
did the government that tried to crush
Joseph, Scripture character upon which
we speak to-day. 1t would be an insult to
suppose that you were not all familiar
with the life Of Joseph; how his
jealous brothers threw him into the
pit, but, seeing caravan Of Arabian mer-
chants moving along on their camels with
spices and gums that loaded the air with
aroma, sold their brother to these NOR
chants, who carried him down into Egypt;
how Joseph was sold to Potiphar, man
Of influence and Office; how, by his in
tegrity, he raised himself to high position
in the realm, until under the false charge
OF vile wretch he was hurled into the
penitentiary; how, in prison, he command
ed respect and confidence; how, by the in
depreciation Of Pharaoh's dream, he was
freed and became the chief man in Gov
brnment-the Bismarck of the nation;
how, in time Of famine, Joseph had control
OF store-housc which he had filled dur
ing the seven years Of plenty; how, when
his brothers, who had thrown him into
the pit and sold him into captivity, applied
for corn, he sent them home with their
beasts borne down under the heft of the
corn sacks; how the sin against their
brother, which had SO long been hidden,
came out at last, and was returned by
that brothers. forgiveness and kindness,
an illustrious triumph Of Christian prin-
ciple.
Learn from this story, in the first place,
that the world is compelled to honor Chris.
tian character. Potiphar was only man
OF the world, yet Joseph rose in his esti-
mxtion until all the affairs of that great
house were committed to his charge. From
this servant no honors or condolences were
withheld. When Joseph was in prison he
! soon won the heart Of the keeper, and,
though placed there for being scoundrel,
he soon convinced the jailor that he was
an innocent and trustworthy man, and, re-
leased from close confinement, he became
a general superintendent Of prison affairs.
Wherever Joseph was placed, whether q
servant in the house of Potiphar or pris-
oner in the penitentiary, he became the
first man everywhere, and in an illustra'
ton Of the truth lay down that the world
is compelled to honor Christian character
There are those who affect to despise q
religious life. They speak Of it as a sys.
tenn Of phlebotomy by which a man is bled
of allshis courage and nobility They say
he has bemeaned himself They pretend
to have no more confidence in him since his
conversion than before his conversion
But all that is hypocrisy. 1t is impossible
for any man not to admire and confide II
Christian who shows that he has really
become child Of God and is what he pro
fesses to be. You can not despise sor
or daughter Of the Lord God Almighty
OF course half-and-half religious charac
ter wins no appreciation. Redwald, thu
King of the Saxons, after Christian bap
tism, had two affairs, one for the worship
of God and the other for the sacrifice O
devils. You may have contempt TO
such men for mere pretension Of religion
but when you behold the excellenc.
Of Jesus Christ come out in the life o
one of His Disciples, all that there is goo'
and noble in your soul rises up into ad
miration. Though that Christian be as ia
beneath you in estate as the Egyptia
slave Of whom we are discussing, by
irrevocable law of our nature Potipha
and Pharaoh will always esteem Joseph
Chrysostom, when threatened with dealt
by Eudoxia, the Empress, sent word t
her, saying: ''Go tell her that I fea
nothing but sim" Such nobility Of char
acter will always be applauded. Their
was something in Aggrippa and Fell
which demanded their respect for Pau
the rebel against government. Idoubt nc
they would willingly have yielded thei
Office and dignity for the thousandth pa,
of that true heroism which beamed in tn
eye and beat in the heart of the uncor
querable Apostle.
The infidel and wording are compelle
, to honor in their hearts, though they ma
not eulogize with their lips, Christia
|, firm in persecution, cheerful in poverty
trustful in losses, triumphant in death.
find Christian men in all professions an
3 occupations, and / find them respected
7 and honored, and successful. John Free
. erick Oberlin alternating ignorance an
distress, John Howard passing frol
> dungeon to lazaretto with healing for tn
;, body and soul, Elizabeth Frye coming
the profligate of Newgate prison, to shak
! down their obduracy as the angel came
the prison at Phillippi, driving open tn
4 doors and swapping locks and chains, q
0 we'll as the lives of thousands of the 70
. lowers of Jesus who have devoted then
selves to the temporal and spiritual we
q fare Of the race, are'monuments of Chri
tian religion that shall not crumble WIFI
: the world lasts.